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Xander Canon Write-Up
December 1st, 2005 (07:31 pm)
current mood: cheerful
current mood: cheerful
-Cordelia, 'The Zeppo'
SPOILERS LIKE NOBODY'S BUSINESS
"I laugh in the face of danger. Then I hide until it goes away."
-Xander, 'The Witch'
This will be long, spoiler-riddled, and go into detail about some things that have not happened to the Xander I'm playing yet. But I love him and I type a lot so there. :P
Alexander LaVelle Harris:
Xander was born and has lived in Sunnydale his entire life. Lucky him. His parents fight a lot apparently and probably aren't the best examples of a good mommy and daddy, but that is just heavily implied in the series, rather than stated. There's lot of evidence though. Even at his wedding, they are seen yelling and screaming at each other in front of the altar. But that is for the future, and not something the Xander I'm playing will even be thinking about for a few years.
One thing we can be sure of is that Xander isn't the smartest of students, his best friend Willow taking that award, having even been asked to teach computer science to the rest of her class senior year after the teacher was murdered. Nonetheless, he does graduate, and I'm sure that any records of his class standing were destroyed when the school collapsed half-way through the commencement speech so no worries there about them coming back to haunt him.
Xander has bad luck in love, falling first for Buffy, who never returns his feelings, and then for a bunch of other girls who he probably wishes didn't. The whole full-circle story of Xander's lovelife (if it can really be called that) is summed up below.
After graduation, Xander wants to go on a road trip and drive through each of the 50 states. That wouldn't have worked so well even if he had done it but well.....
"Basically, I got as far as Oxnard and the engine fell out of my car — and that was literally. So I ended up washing dishes at the fabulous Ladies Night club for about a month and a half while I tried to pay for the repairs. No one really bothered me or even spoke to me until one night when one of the male strippers called in sick and no power on this earth will make me tell you the rest of that story. Suffice to say I traded my car in for one that wasn't entirely made out of rust, came trundling back home to the arms of my loving parents where everything was exactly as it was except I sleep in the basement and I have to pay rent. How's college?"
-Xander, 'The Freshman'
...That should so be a bonus episode in the season four boxset.
Xander later goes into construction, and is quite successful at it. Just because he isn't the smartest student doesn't mean he's not going to make it in life. In one episode, he jumps in front of a ray thingie to save Buffy and wakes up off to the side, seeing himself walking off with his friends. Following his clone around, he sees 'him' land a good job, get a great apartment and all in all be incredibly charismatic. He thinks this is some demon trying to take over his life but really, the ray was supposed to divide Buffy's personality into 'super strong Slayer girl' and 'wimpy normal girl', both of whom were parts of her. Likewise, Xander realizes that this amazing guy he's been tailing is just the other half of himself and he had it in him all along to make things work.
Xander also has some military skills, as a result of dressing as and becoming a soldier from Halloween. He helps Buffy steal a rocket launcher from a military facility and teaches her how to use it, having retained the information from his time as a soldier. Nifty. He's also seen leading students at graduation againt the mayor and his vampire army.
Xander is lord of the wise-cracks. Everything that comes out of his mouth is some kind of crazy, sarcastic joke. Even in the face of danger, he'll still be going with the funny, because it's what he does. And we love him for it.
The Xander I'm Playing:
The Xander I'm playing is from the end of season three. He has not gone on that most wonderous road trip, sadly, and is also currently not with anyone. Cordy has gone to L.A. and Anya is still demon-girl to him. He also no longer has a crush on Buffy, and if he does it isn't as strong as it was. The highschool is still dead, he IS (or was) in his basement, paying rent and Sunnydale is still a hellmouth. Spike has not returned and that's about all I can think of to write here.
Xander and Saving the World:
For being the Zeppo, Xander probably comes in second next to Buffy herself for how many times he's averted the world's destruction. Let's count, shall we? Because I love Xander and praise him like no other.
First Time:
When the Master rises by killing Buffy, we find out that it wasn't the drinking of the blood that killed her, but falling face-first in a puddle and drowning while unconcious. Xander and Angel find her, but Angel, being a vampire, has no breath and so it is up to Xander to give Buffy CPR and bring her back to life to save the day.
Second Time:
In 'The Zeppo', Xander constantly asks the cast if he can help with the latest 'End of Ze World' thing going down. They tell him 'No, stay home' left and right, not wanting him in any danger. He ends up meeting and hanging with a gang of zombies, led by the high school's local psyco bad-boy, saving and smexing/getting smexed by? Faith, and then ending up back at school when he realizes the zombies have placed a bomb in the boiler room. Right under where his friends are fighting to close the hellmouth once again. He gets the bomb disarmed, saving thier lives, and the world in general, but just tells Buffy and the others that the night was spent at home. They never know what he did.
Third Time:
After Willow gains mondo witch powers and tries to end the world, Xander manages to stop her where even Buffy and an empowered Giles failed. He manages to connect to Willow on a human level and it's his feelings of love for her that finally get her to stop her destructive behavior. More details below.
Did I miss any? .____.
Xander's Canon Relationships:
Buffy Summers:
"I remember how I felt when I heard the prophecy that I was going to die. I wasn't exactly obsessed with doing the right thing."
"Yeah, but you did. You gave up your life."
"I had you to bring me back."
-Buffy and Xander, 'Inca Mummy Girl'
New Girl in town. Xander crushes on her bad for the first two seasons and is incidentally the first non-Giles person to hear she is the Slayer. She and Giles were talking about her duties while he was in the library and he overheard them, but just thought it was some kind of joke. When Jessie and Willow get attacked by vamps however, Xander gets a big does of um...reality...and by chance and circumstances he and Buffy end up becoming good friends. Stopping the rise of almighty vampires just brings people together like that.
Xander is very loyal to Buffy and does whatever is required of him with no complaint, even if it's just to go buy jelly donuts. He's always there to lend a hand and cares a lot for her, even after the crush goes away.
Willow Rosenburg:
Xander's childhood best friend, girl-type. They've grown up dorks together, although Willow wants to take it further, even though Xander is oblivious. When it's revealed he's going out with Cordelia, Wil is understandably upset. She says it just proves he's rather be with someone he hates, then with her. She gets a boyfriend later though, so things get better between them. Perhaps a little more than then they wanted. Xander finally, thouth belatedly, realizes what a great girl Willow is, and Willow finds her feelings for Xander aren't as gone as she had hoped. They have major UST going on for a good part of Season 3, ending in them making out while being held captive by Spike and having their respective significant others walking in on them.
Bad.
Still they remain the best of friends, even after Willow goes off to college and Xander goes into the construction business. In later seasons Willow realizes she's a lesbian and starts going out with her new witchy girlfriend, Tara. Tara ends up meeting a tragic end at, of all things, a normal handgun, dying in Willow's arms. Devastated, Willow goes all evil and 'Destroy All Humans'-ish, and it's Xander who finally manages to stop her.
"You've been my best friend my whole life. World's gonna end... where else would I want to be?"
"Is this the master plan? You're gonna stop me by telling me you love me?"
"Well, I was gonna walk you off a cliff and hand you an anvil, but it seemed kind of cartoony."
"Still making jokes."
"I'm not joking. I know you're in pain. I can't imagine the pain you're in. And I know you're about to do something apocalyptically evil and stupid, and hey, I still want to hang. You're Willow."
--Xander and Willow, 'Grave Part II'
"First day of kindergarten. You cried because you broke the yellow crayon, and you were too afraid to tell anyone. You've come pretty far, ending the world, not a terrific notion. But the thing is? Yeah. I love you. I loved crayon-breaky Willow and I love ... scary veiny Willow. So if I'm going out, it's here. If you wanna kill the world? Well, then start with me. I've earned that."
-Xander, 'Grave Part II'
Rupert Giles:
"Yo G-man! What's up?"
"Nice to see you. And don't ever call me that."
-Xander and Giles, 'When She Was Bad'
Giles is bookman! Xander and Giles really don't have much of a relationship, minus the general, 'You're friends with Buffy and I'll look after you too.' It's not that Giles isn't important or that Xander doesn't care about him, but well....Giles likes books, and Xander is Xander, so there's not much room for any sorts of connections. Although, Xander does love to crack jokes a Giles over his bookworm behavior.
Jessie:
Xander's other childhood best friend, boy-type. This boy appears in just the first two episodes of the series. Killed early off and turned into a vampire to lure Buffy into a trap, Jessie doesn't get much in character development but he and Xander seems close and his death effected Xander enough that I felt the need to mention him here. He holds up the Bronze, the local club/hangout, but Xander ends up holding a stake in front of his dead friend's heart. A girl running away in panic, slams into Jessie, pushing him into the stake just as he's daring Xander to kill him, saying he doesn't have the guts. Jessie turns to dust right before Xander's eyes.
Xander's
It has to be said. Xander has the worst luck with women EVER. It's kinda endearing in a pitiable way. But yes, the relationships.
Natalie French:
"Uh, well, basically the, uh, the She-Mantis assumes the form of a beautiful woman and then lures innocent virgins back to her nest."
"Virgins? Well, Xander's not a, uh...I mean, he's probably..."
"...gonna die!"
-Giles, Buffy and Willow, 'Teacher's Pet'
When a substitute teacher starts getting a little friendly with the male students in her class, including Xander, things seem a little weird. Especially with, you know, all the headless bodies turning up and all. Turns out the sub's one giant bug and um...that's bad. But they kill her and save Xander, which is good. Ok I don't remember this ep as well sry. ;___;
Ampata:
"Ampata wasn't evil. At least not to begin with, and... I do think she cared about you."
"Yeah, but I think that whole sucking the life out of people thing would have been a strain on the relationship."
-Buffy and Xander, 'Inca Mummy Girl'
Foreign exchange student Ampata comes to live with Buffy in season two. She and Xander hit it off pretty fast, and he's amazed such an beautiful girl would be attracted to him of all people. But there's a catch. Ampata's an Incan mummy who needs to such out the life of people via kissing to sustain her not-yucky form. She really does care about Xander, and even breaks off a kiss with him to save his life, saying she can't do it. However, when push comes to shove, she gives him a choice. Let her kill Willow to save herself, and they can be together. He says he can't let her, saying if she has to take anyone, to take him. He asks if, knowing she loves him, she can do it. Her answer is yes, but she dies, again, before she can complete the transfer.
The entire female population:
"I made a mess, Giles. See, I found out that Amy's into witchcraft, and I was hurt, I guess, so I made her put the love whammy on Cordy, but it backfired. And now every woman in Sunnydale wants to make me her cuddle monkey. Which may sound swell on paper, but..."
-Xander, 'Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered'
After Cordelia breaks up with him on Valentine's Day, Xander, who is upset and wants revenge, blackmails Amy the witch to cast a love spell on her so that he can break up with her and let her know how he feels. EXCEPT, it all goes wrong. Every girl in the world EXCEPT Cordy falls in love with him, tries to jump him, tries to kill him out of jealousy, or tries to kill/turn every other girl into a rat so they can have him all to themselves. Not too much fun for Xand, since 'all women' includes, the lunch lady, vampires, and Buffy and her mom.
Cordelia Chase:
"Well, this is new territory for me. I mean, my valentines are usually met with heartfelt restraining orders."
"Sorry to say, Xand, slaying is a tad more perilous than dating."
"Well, you're obviously not dating Cordelia."
-Buffy and Xander, 'Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered'
The popular girl in school. Throughout the first season Cordy will have nothing to do with Buffy and her friends, Xander included. She hate them, and the feeling is mutual. Drawn into the intrigues of the Slayer and her friends, Cordy becomes the Scooby who isn't really as much a part of the group as the others. However, UST up to the nose builds up and comes out between her and Xander when they're trapped in the basement of Buffy's house by a worm demon, thinking they can't get out. They keep their relationship a secret for a time, mostly because Cordy doesn't want to ruin her reputation, but everyone eventually finds out and despite some road bumps along the way, they look to be going strong as a couple until Spike, a former enemy, returns and kidnaps Willow and Xander. Thinking they're going to die, Willow and Xander finally let their feelings they've been hiding out, just as Cordelia and Willow's boyfriend, Oz, walk in on them. She's devastated and breaks it off, avoiding and ridiculing him for the rest of the season. However, when her family loses all its money and she ends up working at a department store to buy a prom dress, he still buys it for her, and she thanks him.
After Season three Cordy leaves the cast to star in 'Angel'. She gets premonition-like powers after they kill off Doyle because David is a an ass who was worried, justly so, about competition. Am I bitter, naaahhhhh. But she ends up living with a ghost and becoming a god or a demon, or giving birth to one at least and then she's in a coma and then, in an episode very reminiscent of The Sixth Sense, she dies. And I won't say anymore because WTFFFFFFFFFF. 'Angel' breaks my brain. And yet I still watch it.
Willow Rosenburg:
See above.
Faith:
"I could do anything to you now, and you'd want me to. I could make you scream. I could make you die."
-Faith, 'Consequences'
They had sex (first time for Xander I believe) in 'The Zeppo'. Later, when Faith goes all 'bad-Slayer' on everyone, he goes and tries to talk with her, thinking that they have some kind of connection. She nearly chokes him to death. He stops seeing the connection.
Anya:
"You know, you can laugh, but I have witnessed a millennium of treachery and oppression from the males of the species. And I have nothing but contempt for the whole libidinous lot of them."
"Then why are you talking to me?"
"I don't have a date for the prom."
"Well, gosh. I wonder why not? It couldn't have anything to do with your sales pitch."
"Men are evil. Will you go with me?"
"One of us is very confused, and I honestly don't know which."
-Anya and Xander, 'The Prom'
Originally a demon of vengeance who came to fulfill Cordelia's wish of revenge upon Xander, Anya transformed Sunnydale into a land of darkness and death after Cordelia's wish that Buffy never came. Xander and Willow are undead and the Master rules. Not fun. The Giles of that world manages to return things to the way they are by destroying Anya's necklace, the source of her power. She later reveals herself to the cast when she tries to get it back and ends up summoning the vamp!Willow from that world back to theirs instead. She never gets her powers back, and if forced to live out the rest of her now-mortal life from the point of a high school senior flunking math. She ends up asking Xander to the prom near the end of season three and spends the entire time talking about all the ugly revenge she brought down upon unfaithful males over the millennia. Nonetheless she, in her own awkward way, asks him out again, but skips town the same day when she finds out that the mayor is ascending and she probably won't survive.
Quick notes on Anya include that the Xander I'm playing IS NOT IN LOVE WITH HER YET. For those who don't know, Xander and Anya eventually get engaged, but he leaves her at the alter, fearful that they'll end up like his parents and just make each other unhappy. They say 'good-bye', but still continue love each other, up until the end of the series when she is killed during the final battle.
He help Buffy make a rocket launcher.
Correction, he helped her steal the rocket launcher from an army base and taught her how to work it, using those retained skills.